


The Name of the Stories We Read That Day

by WanderingTheRailroads



Category: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Beware of Feels, Canonical Character Death, Challenge Response, Character Death, Crying, Deathfic, Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/F, F/M, Feels, Gen, Good End, Implied Physical Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Love, Loveless Marriage, Marriage, Minor Character(s), Minor OC - Freeform, Older, POV Minor Character, Parenthood, Physical Abuse, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Canon, Pregnant, ambiguous fic, drunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-04-15 05:25:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4594512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingTheRailroads/pseuds/WanderingTheRailroads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Done for a drabble challenge.</p><p> </p><p>01. Defiant	02.Powder	03.Grateful	 04.Decent        05.Union<br/>06. Cleansed	07.Go		08.Shame	         09.Objective	10.Strength<br/>11. Life		12.Contempt	13.Wrong	         14.Sweet(en	15. Hands<br/>16. Strangle	17 Lullaby	        18.Untouchable 19.Whispered	20. Prayers<br/>21. Obvious	22.Rhythm	23. Afterlife	  24.Hidden   	25. Parade<br/>26. Touch	         27. Free	        28. Enjoy	         29.Shining	30.Overflow</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Defiant

Theme: Defiant

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Jintan/Menma

 

Rebel. Defiant. These words cut deeply, and he buries them in the corners of his heart, hiding secret pain.

 

But then she comes to him one fine summer, unannounced. He holds her in his arms, feels the warmth of her breath on his skin, and thinks to himself,

"Maybe defying death isn't such a bad thing after all."


	2. Powder

Theme: Powder  
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Anaru/Jintan

Anjou applies more powder to her face. Just another meaningless double date with her vapid friends, and another hopelessly perverted guy only after her body. She stands him up outside the hotel lobby and leaves in a huff.

If it was Jintan....I'd never need such fancy makeup, she muses.

But he'll never notice her anyway.

Menma hangs like a dark cloud over their lives,and she feels the first drops of rain fall from her eyes.


	3. Grateful

Theme: Grateful

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Jintan/Menma, Tsuruko, Yukiatsu, Anaru, Poppo

 

"Thank you for your kind smile, your ceaseless enthusiasm, your caring heart. We will always be grateful to you, Menma." - Anjou Naruko

 

"Thank you for bringing us together." - Chiriko Tsurumi

 

"Thank you....for helping me to move on from you, to realize that you never hated any of us, least of all me. Thank you for loving me, even as a friend." - Atsumu Matsuyuki

 

"Thank you for your warm hugs. Thank you for reminding me that it wasn't my fault, that I was just a child." - Tetsudo Hisakawa

 

"Thank you for....cheering me up, for pushing me forward. And thank you, Menma....for loving me." - Jinta Yadomi


	4. Decent

Theme: Decent

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Tsuruko/Yukiatsu, sort of.

 

In Yukiatsu's mind, there only exist three categories of girls: Menma, substitutes for Menma, and everyone else.

 

And Tsuruko has always been in the 3rd category, she knows it all too well. Just a decent friend, nothing more.


	5. Union

Theme: Union

Characters/Pairings: Jintan/Menma

[AU where Menma never died]

 

"...and as such, marriage is a union of bodies and souls. Husband and wife shall become one in perfect consummation... ", she hears the priest exclaim, in his baritone voice.

 

But no, she thinks, the priest is wrong. Their souls have always been united, since the Super Peace Busters. Since the day she very nearly died, and he pulled her back just in time. No, Jintan and Menma have always been two souls united.

 

He leans in, their lips touch, and the physical union becomes complete.


	6. Cleansed

Theme: Cleansed

Characters/Pairings: Poppo, Yukiatsu

 

Poppo and Yukiatsu could not be any more different from each other. The two boys are polar opposites: a cold and cynical honours student; a warm and fatherly wanderer. But under the surface, they are alike in more ways than one. They both enjoy a steaming hot mug of coffee in the morning. They both care deeply about the Super Peace Busters. They’re united in their love of Menma. And they share the guilt over what happened to her all those years ago.

When she ascends, she cleanses both their consciences.


	7. Go

Theme: Go

Characters/Pairings: All the Super Peace Busters

 

“Three…two…one…go!”

Menma always did love their games of Hide and Seek. Sometimes she would be the seeker, sometimes she would hide.

These days, it feels much the same after Menma has left them for good. Ten, twenty years down the line, nothing much has changed.

Sometimes they seek her in their dreams and memories.

Sometimes she finds them at their lowest, and brings them out into the light of day.


	8. Shame

Theme: Shame

Characters/Pairings: Yukiatsu

Caught cross-dressing? Embarrassing, but he’ll get over that. No, what really breaks Yukiatsu is how all his layers fall apart, how the others all see him at his most vulnerable. _You can’t always hide your brokenness,_ muses Yukiatsu. _It eventually comes to light. How shameful._


	9. Objective

Theme: Objective

Characters/pairings: Jintan/Menma

[AU, Jintan and Yukiatsu are soldiers in a post-apocalyptic world. Menma is a deviation from their objective, but they decide to risk taking her back with them]

“Mission Control, no sign of hostiles. Over.”  
  


The sun rises over a bombed-out Japan, as Jinta Yadomi and Yukiteru Atsumu traverse Saitama’s ruined landscape. Occasionally, Jintan whips his head in the direction of suspicious noises, which more often than not turn out to be scavenger animals rooting through the detritus of what was once Chichibu City a century ago, before the blastwave reshaped all of Japan.

  
The pair of friends, comrades-in-arms –and rivals, as Yukiteru might add-, has been dispatched by Central Command to investigate reports of anomalous activity in the area. After a few hours of fruitless exploration, both begin to grow tired.

“You know, Yukiatsu, I’m seriously doubting why HQ sent us. I mean, it’s probably just another minor anomaly. Nobody has found major artefacts in months. All that’s out here is rats, and mutants. Not even that many mutants.” whines Jintan, disengaging the locking mechanism on his helmet as they rest for a moment behind a building that could possibly have been a school. Yukiatsu takes a big gulp from his canteen and stares piercingly at Jintan.

“Maybe. We’re already out here, might as well investigate. Anyway, would you rather encounter a horde of them?”

  
Jintan falls silent upon being berated so sharply. Soon they resume their scouting mission, as the sun climbs higher into a midday blaze that makes them severely uncomfortable, even with their homeostatic suits. Something about the ozone layer being depleted even further, Jintan recalls vaguely from his time in the Academy. Probably. He never was good at academics, anyway.

 

Raising a hand to fiddle with the temperature controls on his suit as they begin an uphill trek, Jintan is startled when Yukiatsu grips that same hand urgently.

“Yukiatsu…?” Puzzled, Jintan peers around and suddenly notices dozens of misshapen forms in the shadows of the forest around them. And one corpse strung from a tree, its features vaguely male.

“Shh. We walked right into their nest. Looks like you got your wish for mutants.”

Mutants. Former humans? Infected animals? Nobody really knows where they came from, and nobody really cares anyway. There’s nothing that can’t be solved with bullets or bombs. Or stealth, in this case.

Cautious not to stir up excess noise, the two young soldiers make their way forward.

No such luck.

 

A deafening roar is heard from below, and Yukiatsu’s face turns pale at the sound.

“RUN!”

The earth trembling beneath them, they swiftly run up the rocky slope. Moments later, Jintan spies an old shack on the hilltop.

“In there! Let’s go!”

At full speed, the duo barrel through a broken-down doorway, shattering what’s left of a makeshift barricade. The beast paces back and forth outside, roaring endlessly and sniffing the air, but oddly refuses to pursue them in.

 

For a brief moment Jintan is perplexed, until he hears a muffled sob in the corner beneath a pile of blankets.

“What the hell…? Yukiatsu, is that…?”

“A survivor? Maybe. But be careful anyway. I’ll take point at the door.”

Jintan moves forward, rifle in hand. These beasts have been known to imitate humans at times.

The blanket shifts.

He raises the gun.

A grayish-white blur leaps out at him, and he barely has time to react before he’s tackled to the floor.

 

Struggling to free himself, Jintan very nearly pulls the trigger before he realizes the “thing” is just a scared teenage girl with silvery hair. _A foreigner, by the looks of it. What’s she doing in Forsaken Japan?_

“Please…please…Satoshi…” she pleads to some unknown individual. The dead body outside is probably who she’s referring to. _Ah, a mixed-race. Not many of them left nowadays._

“I’m sorry…we couldn’t save Satoshi.” The scruffy-looking girl buries her face in Jintan’s exo-armor and sobs despondently, as he struggles to console her by uttering a few words of comfort awkwardly. “It’s alright. You’re safe now. What’s your name?”

Peering up at him with teary blue eyes, she replies shakily: “Mei…ko. Honma Meiko.”

“Okay, Meiko. Calm down. My name’s Yadomi Jinta. Call me Jintan.”

“Jintan, let’s go.” Yukiatsu calls out from beyond the doorway. “The beast is gone. Or at least out of sight.”

Jintan takes Meiko’s slender hand in his, leading her out of the hut. All the while, she clings tightly to him.

 

“Jintan, what the hell? She’s not part of our mission.”

“You can’t be serious, Yukiatsu? We can’t leave her here to die!”

“For God’s sake….”

At that moment, the same roar from earlier echoes through the forest.

“Bloody hell. Let’s just run for it.”

 

Three teenagers -two clad in powered armor and the other in a ragged white dress- run down the forested slope with the mutants in hot pursuit, a mix of fear and exhilaration filling their heads. Jintan can’t help but laugh even in this inappropriate situation. In another life, they could have been best friends.

Mission Control will likely chew them out, Yukiatsu muses. Too many mouths to feed, too few supplies.

But that’s fine, objectives change sometimes.


	10. Strength

Theme: Strength

Characters/pairings: Poppo

 

Poppo is not strong. He’s a coward, a weakling.

But Menma doesn’t see anything wrong with that. She laughs at his jokes, at his silly mannerisms and gestures.

In her laughter, he finds the strength to press forward.


	11. Life

Theme: Life

Characters/pairings: Tsuruko, Anaru

 

Life and death are an endless cycle. You must die and be reborn, say the monks and priests, as they chant sutras to ease a soul’s transition.

The first time Tsuruko feels her baby kick, it comes as a complete shock, even after all the pregnancy guidebooks she’s read. Ever the collected individual, she tries hard to hide the surprise on her face. Anaru notices her discomfort and chuckles softly, laying a hand on the swell of Tsuruko’s growing belly.

In that moment, the two mothers and best friends remember Menma, who never could grow up.

Death is inevitable, but so is life.


	12. Contempt

Theme: Contempt

Characters: Yukiatsu

 

Yukiatsu feels nothing but contempt for the others.

 

Jintan is a worthless shut-in who never did get over Menma. Lately he’s been ranting about seeing her ghost. He’s delusional.

 

Anaru has become a bimbo, hanging out with vapid friends and doing vapid things. She’s pretending, hiding her true self. What a liar.

 

Poppo’s a coward who ran away overseas. Now he’s back, and he thinks he can set things right again. Fat chance. Yeah, he’s gotten a lot fatter too.

 

Tsuruko is practically invisible. She’s too weak. Too distant. At least she makes for a good companion, though.

 

Yukiatsu? No matter how hard he works, he can’t break the chains of his past. He can’t run from it.

There is one person he hates the most: himself.


	13. Wrong

Theme: Wrong

Characters/pairings: Yukiatsu, Jintan

 

“Ghosts are figments of the imagination. They’re delusions.”

Jintan and Yukiatsu are glad that this idea was proven wrong, just this once.


	14. Sweet(en)

Theme: Sweet(en)

Characters: Tsuruko

  
Tsuruko isn’t fond of overly fancy coffee joints. They add too much sugar and cream to their drinks, and everything becomes unbalanced.  
  


As she sits by the window staring across the backyard, coffee cup in hand, she hears her front door creak open. Yukiatsu is home, and his gruff vocalizations contrast with her daughter Karin’s almost melodic voice as they argue about Karin being a little too enthusiastic in opening doors.

 _  
No,_ Tsuruko thinks to herself as she recalls Menma’s own overly enthusiastic demeanour, _there has to be a balance._ _Bitter and sweet._  



	15. Hands

Theme: Hands

Characters: Poppo

 

These are the hands that failed to save Menma. These are the hands that were weak. These are the hands of a coward who could only watch.


	16. Strangle

Theme: Strangle

Characters: Yukiatsu, Jintan  
  


He wraps his fingers around Jintan’s throat, choking the breath out of him, but in truth Yukiatsu’s the one being strangled by his own demons and a hole in his heart where Menma should be.


	17. Lullaby

Theme: Lullaby

Characters/Pairings: Yukiatsu/Menma  
  


[AU where Jintan died instead of Menma]

_  
Sleep little child_

_Rest a while_

_Forget the pain_

_And slip away_

  
Yukiatsu used to sing this song for Menma whenever they had sleepovers. He remembers Menma, curled up next to him as the melody lulled her to rest. Jintan never could sing very well.

  
Now he’s doing the same for his son Jin. Precious little Atsumu Jin. As Jin nods off to sleep, Yukiatsu sneaks out down the hallway to their bedroom, where Menma is already dozing off.

 

He slips into bed and the petite girl -her figure hardly changed from their teenage years, even after having a baby recently- sighs contentedly, unconsciously wrapping her arms around Yukiatsu’s waist and mumbling something about muffins and forget-me-nots.

Jintan’s death tore them apart, but Menma brought them back together. Dearest Menma.

 

The pain never lasts forever.

 

_After the rain_

_Has gone away_

_The rainbow forms_

_A brighter day._


	18. Untouchable

Theme: Untouchable

[AU/Bad End]  


pariah

[puh- _rahy_ -uh]

noun

1\. an outcast.

2\. any person or animal that is generally despised or avoided.

 

She sits by the kitchen table silently, her hands bruised and trembling gripping the bottle of pills. Any moment now he’ll stroll in through that door, his breath and mind permeated with alcohol, and he’ll treat her like the _whore_ she is. Her baby’s crying in the other room, but the young mother can’t bring herself to gaze upon that innocent face.

 

At work, she covers her arms with long sleeves, armour against cruel whispers but _oh how they gossip anyway._ Everyone _knows._

 

It was never meant to be this way.

 

One friend is ten years dead, the memory of him swinging from a rope her only recollection, and that awful smell to go with it.

 

One is missing somewhere overseas. Maybe he’s dead too.

 

The only other girl in their group hates her, refuses to keep in touch. Her artwork shows up in the papers sometimes, nothing but frigid landscapes and utter isolation.

 

Her beloved, her saviour and persecutor, he’s a high-profile domestic abuse lawyer. Ironic.

 

Once again the baby cries, his pitiful wails echoing the walls of their posh suburban home.

_Pariah. That’s what she is._


	19. Whispered

Theme: Whispered

Characters/Pairings: Jintan/Menma, Anaru/Menma

 

“Wanna hear a secret?” Menma whispers to the brunette beside her as they sit by the riverbank, the evening sun bathing them in orange light. Somewhere, cicadas are buzzing.

 _I know, Menma. You like Jintan. Everyone knows. It’s no secret,_ echoes the voice in Anaru’s head as she swats a mosquito away with her tiny palm, the other tightly grasping her Gameboy.

 

“I love you.”

“Huh? What did you just-” Anaru’s face turns beet-red.

“I really really love you, Anaru! You’re my best friend!” Menma exclaims, wrapping Anaru in a tight embrace as the reply shrivels to dust inside her mouth.

 

-

 

Seated by her desk, slumped over piles of half-finished homework, Anaru replies to Menma’s heartfelt exclamation five years too late.

_“Me too, Menma. Me too.”_


	20. Prayers

Theme: Prayers

Characters/Pairings: Mr Honma/Irene Honma  
  


Mr Honma is a superstitious man. He observes all the rituals, all the taboos, all the prayers and ceremonies his late father taught him that have been handed down through generations. Irene, on the other hand, is decidedly apathetic to the idea of religion despite growing up in a deeply religious Russian village. The first time they met, she laughed at his quaint mannerisms and long list of mildly inconvenient superstitions. But despite all that, he muses, as Menma leaps about excitedly in front of the television and Satoshi coos in his crib, somehow they’ve made their marriage work. Two kids and lots of disagreements later they’re still very much in love. Maybe there _is_ some divine power out there holding them together.

  
On the day Menma’s lifeless body is pulled from the river, he grasps desperately at his daughter’s frail, cold hands, pleading to whichever deity is listening to restore her life.   
  
  
But ten million Shinto gods turn a deaf ear to him.

  
Now it’s Irene who sits daily before the altar with their daughter’s portrait, prostrate in grief, while his superstitions no longer hold any meaning for him.

 

It’s ironic, he thinks to himself. The roles have been reversed.


	21. Obvious

Theme: Obvious

Sometimes, we fail to notice the most obvious things.

Sometimes we only realize what we’ve had once we lose it.

Menma was found, and now is lost.


	22. Rhythm

Theme: Rhythm              

Characters/Pairings: Everyone x Everyone

[AU where the Super Peace Busters doesn’t exist as a group. Jintan, Poppo, Tsuruko, Yukiatsu, and Anaru are college students living in a Tokyo apartment complex. Menma is a rising star, a recently-turned-professional singer.]

 

On the tree trunks, cicadas are clinging tightly, their chorus echoing across the campus. A hot afternoon wind blows through the open window of the apartment complex, clashing with the weak breeze from a rickety old portable fan.

“Jintan” Poppo calls, lying flat on his back as he fans himself with a piece of paper, “wanna go pick up girls?”

“In this kind of heat? Your brain must have melted, to suggest that sort of idea.”Jintan snarks in reply, his face obscured by a wet towel that sends water droplets rolling down the singlet he’s wearing.

“Well, in this weather, there’s bound to be a lot of HOT chicks, so-“

A flying towel smacks Poppo in the face before he can finish his joke.

“Hey, what was that for?!” He pretends to take a fighting stance, but from the far end of the bunk beds Yukiatsu’s voice emanates, interrupting their mock fight. “Guys, shut up. I’m trying to study. Poppo, that joke was horrible.”

“And here’s another melted-brain-individual. It’s the beginning of summer, Yukiatsu. You’re a real studybug.” Ignoring Jintan’s insult, he continues reading, but suddenly gets his book snatched away by Poppo who is now seated at the foot of his bed. Yukiatsu doesn’t react in the slightest.

“Anyway, the classes are on lockdown due to the strike, after all. Might as well get out for a bit.”

“How about checking out the club then? We’ve got a guest performer tonight, all the way from Russia. She’s half-Japanese or something. Anjou’s gonna be handling her arrangements. ”

At the sound of a female voice all three boys turn their heads simultaneously. In the doorway, Tsuruko is standing with a plastic bag of cold soft drink cans. She grabs one and tosses it to Yukiatsu, who mouths a silent ‘thanks’.

“Anaru, huh?” Jintan muses aloud, causing Yukiatsu to nearly choke on his drink upon hearing Jintan’s risqué nickname for their friend. Her reputation as a tease doesn’t help.

 

\---

The music blares from a dozen speakers, drowning them in waves of discordant jazz as they linger around the bar after two long hours of dancing.

“Pretty crappy performances tonight.” Yukiatsu leans against the wooden countertop as he sips his beer, the plate of bacon strips to his left nearly empty thanks to a ravenous Poppo. “I can’t stop eating, they’re so good!” is what he argues when Jintan glares at him.

“Well, the alcohol and food’s good at least. The girls aren’t half-bad either. Though, your favourite girl Anjou isn’t here yet. ” Poppo says between bites, playfully draping a consoling arm over Yukiatsu’s shoulder. Jintan just laughs at their exchange.

“Oh shut up.”

“Speaking of Anaru…hey, Tsuruko, where’s she? Still busy?” Jintan asks Tsuruko as she wipes a glass.

“She’s setting things up. Our guest singer should be out soon.”

As if on cue, the lights go out everywhere, except for a lone spotlight on the stage. From behind the curtains, Anaru steps forth, her brown hair tied up in a bun. As she takes the stage, cheers can be heard from the audience…

“Oi, Anaru! Break a leg!”

…and from Poppo, who earns himself an angry stare when he uses the forbidden nickname.

 

She blushes bright red and hastily clears her throat, leaning forward towards the microphone.

“Ahem. Sorry to disappoint the audience, but I’m not tonight’s guest performer.”

The cheers die down, replaced by muttering and a few complaints.

“However, I promise you won’t be disappointed when you hear her perform. Let’s welcome...”

 

Silence.

 

Anaru glances to her right, beyond the heavy curtains, gesturing frantically at an unseen individual. Eventually after much struggling, someone gives the individual a push and she stumbles onto the stage clumsily, halfway through styling her hair as a guitar hangs from her shoulders. In frustration, the pale-skinned girl gives up and lets her hair loose, a flowing silvery-grey river nearly skimming the hem of the white sundress she’s wearing.

 

“And there she is: Honma Meiko, all the way from Russia!”

 

“Um…sorry for the lack of preparedness, I’m still not used to Japan. Anyway, my first performance will be a song I wrote myself, about partings in summer. ”

 

Uncertainly, hesitantly, Meiko begins to strum the guitar, but soon the lonely notes segue into a flowing melody.

 

_We’ve reached the end of the summer, with our dreams of the future, and all the hopes we’ll never forget…_

 

Around Jintan the world fades, and he finds himself standing in a field of flowers, the name of which he can’t seem to remember. Far off between the blue petals, he sees Meiko, peering curiously at him. She draws closer.

 

Closer.

 

He finds himself rooted to the spot.

Now she is floating, embracing him.

As soon as it began, the vision dissolves and Jintan is left staring at an empty stage, his friends waking him from the stupor. He shrugs it off and feigns ignorance.

 

That night, as they walk home under dim streetlights, Jintan finds himself unconsciously humming Meiko’s song. For the next few days, he is unusually distracted.

 

\---

 

A month later, he finds her again, seated by a river. Her frail hands are dipped into the water, partially submerged as she tries to catch a fish darting to and fro. Upon hearing his footsteps, she turns and smiles warmly at Jintan.


End file.
